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Big Union Endorses Clinton

Updated| 1:38 Gaining one of the biggest endorsements that organized labor has to offer, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton received the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union official said today.

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The union is one of the nation’s largest, with 1.4 million members, and is especially powerful in Iowa, where it has 30,000 members, making it a major force in that state’s Democratic caucus.

The union’s executive voted to endorse Mrs. Clinton today, capping a 10-month process in which the union’s presidential search committee met with candidates, sponsored candidate forums and polled members nationally and in several key states.

“The next president is going to play a critical role in rebuilding America’s middle class and ensuring that everyone share’s in our country’s prosperity,” said Gerald McEntee, the union’s president. “President Hillary Clinton will make us stronger at home and respected abroad.”

Word of the endorsement could not come at a better time for the Clinton campaign, as it comes just after a debate in which she ws roundly attacked by her fellow Democrats, particualrly John Edwards, who has also picked up a fair amount of labor support.

Mr. McEntee, who also serves as chairman of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s political committee, does not like to see labor sitting on the sidelines and has said that he thinks it’s important for a powerful union like his to use its power by endorsing a candidate. Mrs. Clinton is highly popular with his union’s rank and file, which is heavily female and African-American, but many of his union’s members also support Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

The federation of state, county and municipal employees plans to spend $60 million in the current campaign cycle on the presidential, congressional and state races, second only to the Service Employees International Union. Moreover, the union, known as Afscme, plans to mobilize at least 40,000 volunteers in the campaign.

“We looked for the candidate who will fight for working families and who has the greatest ability to win,” Mr. McEntee said.

One official who attended today’s board meeting said 23 board members had voted to endorse Mrs. Clinton while 10 voted for other candidates or for no endorsement. At the meeting several officials argued against backing Mrs. Clinton, saying that she would have trouble beating a Republican in November 2008 because her negatives are so high.

As a result of the Afscme endorsement, its members will be battling on behalf of Mrs. Clinton in Iowa against members of several other unions — the steelworkers, the carpenters and several service employee locals — that have endorsed Mr. Edwards.

Mr. Edwards is also getting some good news today – he is receiving the endorsement of the service employees’ state council in New Hampshire, even though former President Bill Clinton had personally intervened in his wife’s behalf. Because the service employees have 10,000 members in New Hampshire, that should be a significant boost for Mr. Edwards. in the state that has the first primary.

Mr. McEntee and his union were somewhat embarrassed in 2004 after they endorsed Howard Dean early on, only to see him fade quickly. Mr. McEntee said he would make sure that in this election his union’s leadership would not get too far out in front of its rank and file if and when it endorsed someone in the presidential primary.

The days when unions could deliver millions of votes are over. That being said, they can provide ground voluteers, however. Not surprising, but the union endorsements are all over the map from Edwards, Obama, Guliani etc.

From the text of their endorsement speech:Some of you may have seen last night’s debate. Six guys against Hillary. I’d call that a fair fight. This is one strong woman.I wonder how AFSCME’s members feel about having their union turned into the Clinton campaign’s post-debate spin room.

As always, I wish Gerald McEntee and AFSCME well, but I’m afraid they have learned little from their humiliating mistake in 2004. Again, they have endorsed the candidate of the moment, rather than taking a few more moments and endorsing a candidate who truly comports with the enduring values of their union and their membership.

Oh, this is rich. The “union” represents public employees. In my community, they attempted to ram down voters throats several new taxes – a road tax, a gasoline tax, an income tax – all so that they could receive a 20% pay increase at a time when everyone in the private sector is loosing their jobs and taking pay and benefit decreases. Clinton represents this mob of money grubbing gasbags, the swine on Wall Street, radical feminists, and the homosexual lobby. I’m NOT impressed!

They believed the polls back in 04 and lost by supporting Howard Dean. Maybe they wanted to keep up the losing tradition by choosing another front runner whose poll numbers are more inflated than Dean’s were.

The best man for the job of leading us back to fiscal responsibilty and repairing our international relations is a bright and very strong lady with the ability to take on the self centered right wing….. Steve..

Hillary Clinton has the best chance to compete against the Republicans of all the democratic front runners because her personality is well-defined. In the 2004 election the Repubs were able to label Kerry as a “flip-flopper” because, before that, the general public didn’t really have a true idea of who he was; this is also true of Obama and Edwards. She’s been in the public eye for a very long time and fared well considering that duration.

Senator Clinton demonstrates poise, judgment and decisiveness. She recognizes, unlike many of her primary opponents and our sitting president, that success in that office demands the capacity to turn all of the knobs, whether or not one likes their shape or size. The President is the leader of 300 million Americans of many different persuasions, but represent them, she must. It is the epitome of silliness to suggest that one must have a formula in mind before the issues ripen and all of the interests in our great republic are consulted. She will keep cool until it is time to do business, then the fur will fly.

As a staunch OBama supporter I am not even worried about the endorsement, while 30,000 members seems like a sizeable population, it does not include the remaining 3 million people in Iowa. In short, besides getting a few more people to post up Clinton 08 posters, Hilary gains little from this.

It seems that John Edwards,Barack Obama and Chris Dodd have done nothing but run for president all their political lives. They are tired old men and Hillary is just what she needs to be, a women of substance who is at the right place at the right time with a former President at her side! The republicans are shaking in their boots. NUf said!

This must be positive news for her campaign who must be terribly disappointed that her flip-flopping and hypocrisy were exposed on national television for the world to see. I find it unfortunate that the Union decided to endorse the candidate least concerned with the average laborer and more bound by obligations to lobbyists and special interest groups. Luckily, their endorsement has not shone itself to be very worthwile. I’m confident that B. Obama and his outstanding grassroots initiative can secure the nomination.

Obama may not be the public debater that Hillary Clinton is but he is more thoughtful, articulates his views thoroughly, is not in the pocket of corporate America cwho have betrayed American workers and continually bribe our elected officials to do the wrong thing. Also, corporate American is profitting from the Iraq War.

If the big corporations are supporting Hillary, then I’m certainly not going to. I’m voting for Obama.

The problem with union endorsements is that they are decided by a select few – like Jerry McEntee and his hand picked executive board – then they are portrayed as being agreed to enthusiastically by the entire 1.6 million members.
I spoke to three friends today, all of them state workers and members of AFSCME.
None of them knew their union endorsed Hillary and all three of them plan to vote for John Edwards.
Thinking that Jerry McEntee even cares about what the members of his union think is similar to saying Ken Lay had the best interests of the Enron worker bees at heart.
Jerry is close to Bill Clinton and you can bet there’s a deal there somewhere!

#14. JP
I have to disagree. The public pity party for the situation that HRC’s husband put her in will not wear as well if at all with the conservatives as it has with the liberals. If she were to get trapped in a debate with the republican candidate like she got trapped in last night, it will be all over. They would go in for the kill; no mercy. Thats why they win.

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